


Sam the Bat

by MurmyWormy



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: 12 year olds, Bar & Bat Mitzvah, Canon Jewish Character, First Crush, Friendship, Gen, Hair, Hair Dyeing, Haircuts, Identity, Mischief, Pizza Rolls, Platonic Cuddling, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Rebellion, Sam's hair color, Sam's natural hair color, Self Image, sharing a braincell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27188104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurmyWormy/pseuds/MurmyWormy
Summary: [Pre-Series]Sam Manson was born with a head full of strawberry blonde hair and by the time of her Bat Mitzvah, still hadn’t made peace with it.But she, along with her two best friends, decide to take becoming a woman into her own hands... with some drug store dye, stolen scissors and bad anachronistic references.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

“Mom, I look stupid.”

Sam frowned at herself in the mirror. The twelve year old girl in her reflection had the same disappointed scowl, and furrowed brows. The dress was a light pink silk with darker pink crystals and tiny embroidered roses overlaid in a pattern that reminded her of frosting on a cupcake. The tulle underneath added to the cupcake feeling, and the tiny dip on the top normally would’ve scandalized her mother. But apparently, she made an exception for ‘Perfection’. Sam would scoff whenever her mom called it that. Perfection? Perfection would’ve been being able to use one of the matching gloves as a noose.

But instead she was here. “Don’t be ridiculous Samantha. You look beautiful.” Her mom smiled, eying the finer details in the dress and gloves.

“Mom I look like a cupcake.” Sam insisted, spinning when her mother requested it. Great. Now it puffed up and looked even more like a cupcake. “You know what would really look good though and not make me look stupid?”

“For the last time Samantha, you are not getting a black dress.”

“Oh come on! It’s my party.”

“Correction. It is your Bat Mitzvah, not some creepy Halloween costume party. Besides, I already paid a good thousand for this one. And if I took you shopping this late, you’d have to get something off the rack,” Pamela frowned. Bargain prices aside, the woman wasn't a complete sadist as she watched Sam huff and cross her arms. “I know you don’t like it but is this how you want to properly introduce yourself to society? Our community?”

“So this is it? Not the coming out party, my sixteenth birthday, my wedding or whatever other parties you've been planning since labor?”

“Must you be sarcastic with me?” Her mother brushed off. “Anyway, the dress looks perfect. You look just like me.” She smiled. Her smile didn’t last all that long though. “Except that hair. Sit” She ordered, raking her fingers through. “What are we going to do with it?”

“You tell me mother.” Sam answered. She watched the way her mother fuss through strawberry blonde locks, smoothing them back so the straps of the dress finally shown, and moving them shoulder to shoulder, working through how she wanted the hairdresser to style it. The last thing she paid attention to was something about her mom’s old tiara or something before she let go. “We’ll figure it out after your dad and I come home.” She said, kissing the top of Sam’s forehead. “Bubbe’s in charge. Love you honey.” She waved, leaving the room and joining her husband out the door.

Now that Sam was alone, she couldn’t wait to get out of the dress. But instead of tearing herself out of it like she did with the other dresses, she didn’t move. Now it was a fight with the mirror. She’d spent weeks trying to get the dress she wanted, but it didn’t work. No matter how many pictures she showed, or things from boutiques her mom wanted her to see, she was shot down. In fact, a lot of colors were shot down, even the ones that were like, red or a darker pink! No, her mother was more adamant than usual on this pink. And it had to be this pink, according to her mother, because it was absolutely perfect with her hair.

“Stupid hair,” Sam frowned, playing with some of the locks. Since she was little, she swore that the most compliments she ever got were about hair. How amazing the color was, and how long and was, and how it made it look Just. Like. Her mother. Not to mention all of the times she swore her mom was preoccupied with that hair. Sometimes she’d joke and remind the woman that she gave birth to the person attached to the hair, or ask if she’d still be loved if she’d gotten her dad’s blonde hair instead.

Her mom never found those funny.

But now Sam was the one that didn’t have anything to laugh at. She thought that now she was ‘going to be a woman’, she’d have some choice in this. At least this. And it wasn’t like she completely ignored her dad’s advice of ‘giving it a chance’. Sam tried to like the idea of a puffy ball gown, no matter the color. But no matter how many times she twirled in it, she never had the Cinderella moment her mother, bubbe, or any of her cousins felt.

That wasn’t her.

She wasn’t a Cinderella, or the stunning bride her cousin Leah was, or even one of the ballerinas she was for Halloween. At least, she wasn’t those girls at their most delicate or perfect. What if Cinderella had gone for vengeance after someone stole her shoe, or if Leah was at a funeral and swore to avenge her husband? Or what if she was the black swan, and not the white?

Sam loved those. Sam was those. Except for the part with the princes, or husbands. Forget that, she didn’t need a boyfriend. Besides, boys sucked. The only cool ones were -

“Hey Bat-day Girl!” Sam heard yelling by her window, and recognized the unified voices in an instant. She grinned, not even thinking about changing before racing down and opening the door as quietly as she could. She could blackmail later if they tried to say anything.

Sam still stood by her statement of boys sucking, and that wasn’t going to change until she was like, 100. Or until she got boobs or something.

But for now, her best friends got a pass.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the trio is all together. Some cannon divergence because why not? Who cares if they'd actually already know if Sam's rich and had been to her house before?

Danny and Tucker were facing the window, waiting for Sam to come out of the closet. They didn’t have time to immediately react to what she was wearing when she first got them in. Something about not waking up her grandmother in the other room. So now they were forced to stand by as Sam changed, now not wanting to them to see her in it until tomorrow. At least the music out of Sam’s radio was good, and loud enough for them to at enjoy.

“Can we turn around now?” Tucker asked, eyes on his planner. 

“I’m not done yet.” Sam hissed between the crack of the door and flinging gloves in their general direction

“You’re not even in the same room!”

“Just leave it.” Danny interrupted. No sooner had Tucker complained, Sam rejoined them in some black sweats and her hair in a pony tail that made her widow’s peak more prominent. She tossed her dress onto the bed, the three of them examining it like an animal Danny’s dad ran over once. “So this is the dress huh,” Danny asked.

“Yep.”

“It’s so ….”

“So…”

“Yikes?”

“It’s more of an ew.”

“Whatever it is, I’m stuck with it.” Sam rolled her eyes, scooting the dress over so she could have her bed back. “Seriously, I look like Glinda threw up on me in this thing.” She said. “And like, she wouldn’t even let me have a black dress either. She knows I love black.” The defeat in her tone became more prominent as she kept thinking about the coordination of it all. “But no. It just had to match.” She mocked, playing catch with one of her Barbie’s heads. “Why didn’t she just have another kid if she just wanted to play dress up?” She soon tossed the head to Danny. “Actually, do you parents wanna trade? Me for Jazz?”

“Yeah right,” Danny snorted, catching the head and tossing it back and forth. “She just got a perfect on her CATs. So that means, she doesn’t have to help in the basement.”

“The basement? What’s going on there?”

“My mom and dad just finished the prints for some portal. Something they started in college and now I gotta help build it. Really Immerse Myself in the Family Business.” Danny scoffed while Tucker made some joke about getting his dad’s old jumpsuit. Sam stayed quiet. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, there was something kind of cool about what Danny’s parents. He might not have believed- in fact, most of the town didn’t believe – but Sam didn’t see a problem with thinking they at least could be real. It’d be the last thing she’d admit, but if whatever they were working on was going to shake up Amity Park, would it really be so bad?

Ghosts in fact, would be much better than the current, girly issue of this stupid dress. “Guys, we gotta focus.” Sam reminded them. “What’m I going to do? I can’t be seen in this.” She insisted.

“Why not. It’s just a few hours right?” Tucker asked, looking up from his game.

“Says the person who can’t spend more than two hours without latest updates on his tech.”

“I totally could!”

“The last time you tried, Ricky Marsh found you covered in peanut butter in the park.” Sam reminded, a scowl on her face. “And he had the nerve to call you gross.” She said, her brows creased before she sat back down. “And like, you don’t get it…. It’s not just the dress.” With the smallest sniffle she tried to hide, Sam found herself with one best friend on either side of her. “You guys get to do whatever, and be whatever. And my parents keep telling me I’m supposed to be this woman now, but mom still picks out my outfits, still decides how to do my hair – I bet if she could she’d give me that same stupid 50s hair too.” She said, throwing the doll head against the door.

“That hair wouldn’t be worth the blackmail.” Danny pointed out, letting the doll head stay on the floor and his shoulder be a headrest for his distraught female friend

“Yeah. That really sucks, because you’re actually pretty cool” Tucker agreed, “Not like I’m gonna say that a lot though. So don’t ask me.” He added.

“Thanks.” Sam smiled, getting up and handing her friends some controllers. This topic was starting to get really gross, and so was the gushy stuff. “So while I have some freedom, I bet I can smoke you guys in Doompath 2.” She taunted.

“You’re on.”

–

The minutes passed. Sam had four out of seven victories under her belt against the two, and plenty of soda and popcorn between them. Normally this cheered her up. But somehow, she wasn’t feeling as better as she wished she would. The dress ate at her, and so did the idea of being a woman before her friends were ‘men’ or whatever. The most, was how she would have to do it the way she didn’t want to until she took control now. Sam knew the three of them had each other’s backs no matter what. But maybe this was something she couldn’t ignore anymore. Maybe it was something she had to do, or something she’d never do if she didn’t do it now.

So with confidence, she paused the game and put her controller down. “You know what? This is stupid,” She announced.

“Oh haha. Pick another game then Manson”

“Not that,” Sam smiled, “I mean, if I’m going to do become a woman, then I’m going to do it my way, even if I can’t change that stupid dress. You with me?” She challenged.

“Hell Yeah,” The boys answered in unison as they put their controllers down.

Inspired, Sam gave herself one last look in the mirror, the three of them all present. What was in front of her was almost the perfect picture. Almost. There was one thing she wanted more than anything, just one thing that just didn’t belong with her or her current outfit.

“Good. Because I know just what I wanna do.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There's a major amount of stupidity here because well, sometimes authors have brainfarts and decide to make characters they didn't create have brain farts too.

In the late summer air, the three of them had the plan in their heads for Sam's ultimate transformation as they rode away in their scooters. Getting away wasn't as hard as Sam initially expected, though she hadn't found out until being the last one out of the fire escape and almost crashing into a trashcan and fat squirrel, that her Bubbe could sleep through pretty much anything. She should've guessed that when she let Danny and Tucker in the first place but that was the past. It also could've eliminated the need for dark hoodies and headbands that Sam wanted them to wear - for coordination's sake or so they couldn't be seen or whatever. But seriously, how cool would it be to just walk in somewhere all wearing dark hoodies and looking badass?

But while Sam's thoughts were initially in the past, now was the future. And the future set for them was in the form of a general pharmacy / Walgreens knockoff on 5th and Geist. "Let's do this." She grinned, leading the two through the automated doors and gaining absolutely no attention from the old man behind the cash register. "Alright, the plan's simple from here," Sam started, "All we gotta do is get to the right aisle an-" She began, only to get the feeling that they weren't listening to her. Her suspicions were confirmed when she turned and saw Danny and Tucker wheel a shopping cart down the other aisle and stripping their hoodies off. "What the - guys!" Sam hissed, "We have a plan, remember?"

"That's what you think." Tucker challenged, "Besides, we gotta stop by the freezers."

"Why?"

"I'm still sweating. You try operating a scooter in all that heat and glasses _and_ goggles." he said, jumping into the wider portion of the cart as Danny decided to test out maneuvering the cart with the extra weight.

"How're you not sweating by the way?" Danny asked.

"Because I simmer."

"Simmer? What the - you know your skin's not made of water right?"

"I know that." Sam crossed her arms, looking at the freezers. Now that she thought about it, they were very cold. And she really, really didn't like being in the sun for that long. And it would be nice to not have to keep simmering, sweating, whatever by the time they were ready to leave. "Fine. But like, just to cool off okay?"

"Yeah Yeah, let's just cool off." Tucker insisted as Danny started pushing him. On the way down the aisles, Tucker had grabbed a roll of toilet paper, deodorant and one of those stupid straw hats, layering them on himself like the lion from Wizard of Oz.

Sam couldn't help but laugh. "You know you look kinda stupid right?"

"You're just jealous that you're not the one in the cart."

"Maybe." Sam smiled as she decided to help Danny push.

"Onward, loyal subjects."

"Whatever, your royal dorkness." Danny rolled his eyes as he scoot over, giving Sam enough room for at least one of her hands on the cart. As the three of them made their way to the back of the store, Sam couldn't help but look down at times. She was giddy; she couldn't believe that they were actually executing one of her plans. Not that they hadn't done it before but this was something life changing, and there was no way that she could've possibly outdone herself in this. With that in mind though, as the three of them prattled off different things they could get as snacks, Sam had a sense of hyper awareness towards how close her fingers would brush against Danny's. The heat that came to mind wasn't something that came from outside, and not something she knew she could handle or not.

There wasn't a sense of giddy in the world that could explain that, nor a sense of both dread and relief that came when they actually made it to the freezers and let go of the cart. Sam and Danny sank against the doors of the freezer, feeling the chill against their backs. "And you didn't want to come over here." Danny teased, opening one of the freezers and grabbing a bag of pizza rolls, tossing it into the cart.

"Okay fine, it's nice." Sam rolled her eyes as Danny drew some shapes on the frost. He'd finished a rather detailed looking diamond before hearing Tucker clear his throat.

"Hey! I'm still in here you two." He reminded them, his face mostly annoyed but Sam swore she saw a smirk leaving his face before they paid attention. 

"Sorry." Danny chuckled before getting up and examining the cart itself. What was he waiting for? "Dude why don't you just jump out." Danny asked.

"Jump out? Won't it like, roll out from under me or something?"

Sam shrugged. It was a good point. "I don't know. I mean, maybe if like one of us catches you or something."

"Just get out the way you got in. Like hopping a fence or something." Danny suggested.

"Danny how many fences do you think I hop?"

"Good point."

"Yeah you've got the cardio of like, a sick raccoon."

"Thanks. Let's just hold this still and get me out of here," Tucker rolled his eyes. He waited until both of them had the cart steady before standing up. Tucker examined his options from his angle, at first stepping on the ledge before wobbling and grabbing Danny's face.

"Dude!"

"Sorry!" He said, letting go and trying again. The two of them could only keep so steady as Tucker tried to get himself out. After stepping on the majority of fingers and almost poking both Danny and Sam's eyes out , and maybe Sam's nose, he swore he almost got it. That was, until he decided to test his luck by going into the toddler area of the cart. Despite the warnings, he figured it would be easier to jump out that way: No stepping on people, the air would be bigger, and he could grab onto things. Those would be the expectations of a jump higher up. What he didn't expect though, was the cart shaking more due to imbalance, and his foot sliding into one of the toddler leg holes.

So there they were. Tucker wasn't any freer, Sam wasn't closer to being a woman and Danny was starting to get cold. He also wished had a camera or something because there was no way this wouldn't make the end of the year video. Clearly, this wasn't working.

"Can't one of you just pick me up?"

"Pick you up? We're not giants!"

"No but one of you could like, get on each other's shoulders or something." Tucker insisted. The idea went away without saying; the three of them continued to examine the cart until Danny suddenly had another idea.

"What if we like, tilt the cart like 45 degrees or something." He suggested. "Like, or if we can get the cart on the floor like a dog or something, we could get his foot unstuck and get him out of there."

"Hell no, you guys couldn't even handle me trying to get out off of y'all."

"You almost poked my eye out!"

"Whatever."

"No, I got it!" Danny finally said. "Okay so we kinda do like, a combo of stuff. Like Sam, you get the cart okay?" he asked, "So we push it against a shelf and like, and one of us helps get the foot unstuck. Then like, chicken style, Tucker holds onto the shelf and then gets on my shoulders I guess?" Initially the gallery was speechless. They had plenty of moments like that in the past ten minutes, but this time was more in contemplation about how it would work than if it would or not. Eventually, no one had an argument against it.

"Not like we have any other options." Sam shrugged as she got a hold of the handlebar, pushing them to the nearest shelf.

"Alright. On the count of three, we go." He said before counting off. From the second it seemed that Tucker's foot was loose, Sam immediately started pushing. Unfortunately, it wasn't as free as it initially looked.

Tucker's shoe, still slightly wedged, had him fall more forward than able to grab on the shelf. Tucker grabbed Danny, trying to balance Tucker once again about to scratch out his face. By the time Sam let go of the cart, Tucker's body connected it to Danny, the latter wailing and trying to get Tucker onto a shelf instead of his face. Sam immediately started work on getting the rest of the shoe out. She warned Tucker to stop moving, and Danny to stop jiggling, but it was too late.

The cart propelled towards a shelf, crashing into it and having a good number of items fall around it.

"What the hell's going on over there!" the cashier from earlier suddenly boomed. The three could hear footsteps coming towards them.

"Shit. Run!" Sam panicked, grabbing the hoodies and dragging her two best friends with her as the man chased them out. They almost crashed into each other as they hurriedly made it back onto their scooters. She could still hear the man cursing those 'goddamn kids', and only stopped when she couldn't see the store anymore. She rolled into the grass of the nearest playground, chucking her helmet down before laying down and catching her breath. She'd never rolled away that fast in her life, and she wasn't sure if she was still breathing or not, or if she was still on any adrenaline or not. 

Because right now, she didn't know whether could either run ten more miles, or not move another inch.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now a breather because when one plan goes south, you gotta look north. Kinda 
> 
> Anyway, Happy Belated Christmas y’all!

Sam didn't know how much time had passed between them. At least five minutes, or enough time for Danny and Tucker to kick off their own helmets and join her either in solidarity or to ride out the wave of adrenaline they all rode. They could all feel each other, silence between heaving breaths had been more than enough to say everything initially. But how could anyone say something after all that? What could they even say?

"Well that happened," Danny finally said, his voice still slightly shaky from adrenaline and - was he laughing? Sam tried to glare at him. They were supposed to follow a simple plan going in, and all they had to do was buy hair dye!

"We didn't get the dye but holy shit," Tucker said, not even bothering to hide his laughter as it bubbled out of him. "What the hell even was that."

"That was you guys wanting to go to the freezer, and you wanting to play King Tuck", Sam frowned, trying her best to sound disappointed as Tucker was full of giggles and Danny wasn't even trying to hide it anymore either. She wanted to open her mouth again, tell them exactly how stupid they looked and how dumb it was to go into a shopping cart if they didn't know how to get out. But that's when Sam actually remembered just how stupid they all looked, and how they just bolted like they'd just seen a body. Now Sam couldn't speak. She couldn't speak, or stop the sudden shake in her chest, the bubbling in her throat and the grin taking over her face. "More like King Stuck!" She burst out, holding her stomach and leaning her head against Danny's shoulder.

Tucker tried to protest but it was no use. Every word he tried to say just reminded him of how ridiculous he looked, leading in a chain of one person laughing, then all of them howling. The only thing he could get out between their separate recollections of the events, was wishing that he could've been wearing something awesome, or if someone was filming them. And how by some miracle, they managed to get out of there before anyone's parents had been called. Their howls and spurts of stomach-tightening wheezes gained the attention of parents. The glares they didn't see, they certainly felt as the parents started gathering their kids away from the area. Danny even called out at one couple, swearing that they weren't on drugs and to make sure the kids weren't watching too much 'Inappropriate Television'. In the midst, Tucker took off his hoodie, the sudden thump on the ground getting his attention. His hoodie wasn't supposed to be that heavy. When he looked, he wheezed, curling and throwing his glasses onto the grass.

"Tuck?"

"Guys. Guys look." He pointed, the package bright against the dull of the hoodie, shining like a treasure.

"Oh my god,"

“The Pizza Rolls...” The three of them froze. This situation was crazy before, but how were they supposed to react now? Sam swore that they'd already hurt themselves enough from laughing at the first thing. But this? this was just something to leave them speechless. And speechless they were, exasperated and almost choked up, at the same time mustering the energy to either laugh or make sense of the refuge in audacity.

Soon, Sam was the one to break the silence. "Great, now we're thieves," she chuckled, "Just like the rascals my mother warned me about," she joked, letting her stomach rest and stopping herself from cry-laughing. She could smile though; she was a regular hooligan now. A vandal, a thief, and soon, a mutilator if things went her way. Her head kept it's place against Danny's shoulder as she caught her breath, the sun still beating down on them but the heat somehow not as intense. Even Tucker was able to get out of his fetal position, instead using either of their laps as a pillow after he got his glasses back.

Sam felt at peace, the smile from earlier still lingering as she quietly leaned against Danny's shoulder. She'd spent time at his house; she knew what kind of shampoo he used, and it didn't smell like this. And it certainly didn't smell like anything else in her life: her father's cologne, lab chemicals, even the mothballs and old books she liked to think her grandpa and great grandpa smelled like. Hell nothing even stood out about it; it just smelt like him. So why did that make her feel weirdly at peace? Like there wasn't anyone else but the two of them? She hoped it wasn't something in the hoodies, or even worse, the store. She was tempted to get closer, just to make sure she was sure it was coming from him, that she wasn't going crazy. She wondered if it would've really been that bad if she just took a few inches in for herself...

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"My arm."

Sam scoot off before she could let her face turn red. "Sorry." she coughed before pinching her wrist. What the hell was that? Was she really about to try and smell him? And now, even the now separate space between them felt like too much and not far enough. She could've sworn he was blushing too if she weren't questioning her own sanity at the moment. At least Tucker was out of his daze, sitting up and ready for go."Okay. We're not like, I don't know, drunk on crazy anymore, what now?" She asked, "We either gotta make sure we don't do anything that dumb again, or find someone who'll let us use their stuff. " She offered, waiting for either of them to agree on one option or the other. "... Okay who has stuff we can use?" She decided.

"Yeah my dad'll kill me if I use his clippers. Something about the time my uncle Chris tried to give himself a fade or something." Tucker shrugged. "So yeah. Plus he doesn't dye his hair." He added before locking his sights on Danny. "But your dad does."

"Wait you had hair dye and stuff already at your house?" Sam asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Yeah he does but guys, it's my house."

"Come on. You really think your dad's gonna let ghosts near his _hair supplies_?"

"I guess not. And they _are_ going to be in the lab all day. And Jazz is at the library, " Danny admitted, letting the decision go without opposition. "Fine. But we go in and out. Straight back to Sam's."

"Got it."

”And whatever we do, do _not_ go in the basement.” 


	5. Happy Holidays!

Hi! 

Just wanted to say Happy Holidays and thank you for your support so far :) 

2020’s been shit amiright? Hopefully 2021 won’t be, but at least I’ve been inspired to write.

**Author's Note:**

> ... This isn't the first time I've written about haircuts. Huh. 
> 
> Anyway please lease comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Kudos if you want. They're great candy bars.


End file.
